


dirty laundry

by einherjis



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Other, Roommates, There are TWO trans characters in this fic, the other is a secret bc plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:33:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9117916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/einherjis/pseuds/einherjis
Summary: After weeks bumming it on her half-sister's couch looking for a place to stay, Alex is running out of options. Good thing Sam's friend has an empty room in his apartment.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey there! so this is my first work for magnus chase but it's a HUGE AU i've come up with like holy shit so much worldbuilding. uh so basically they become roommates. they're 22 in this fic. also, this is unbetaed so sorry for any errors, and if you're interested in betaing my work, i would love that! enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there! so this is my first work for magnus chase but it's a HUGE AU i've come up with like holy shit so much worldbuilding. uh so basically they become roommates. they're 22 in this fic. also, this is unbetaed so sorry for any errors, and if you're interested in betaing my work, i would love that! enjoy!

His apartment smelled like the forest.

Alex sat with her hands in her lap on the couch, which was an ugly yellow color and had some suspicious stains, her shoulders tight. It was a pretty nice apartment as far as apartments went in this part of town, despite being on the 19th floor. Supposedly it was dirt cheap as well, according to Alex’s half-sister Samirah; she’d been the one to tell Alex about it, claiming the resident was a friend of hers who needed a roommate. Alex hadn’t initially wanted to even go through with the meeting, but at this point, she was running out of options. 

And as far as last options went, this one wasn’t particularly bad. She’d been in tighter spots before. She wasn’t exactly dying to be homeless again.

Her host is moving around in the kitchen, which is essentially connected to the living room in one large living space. There weren’t any separate rooms in the small apartment aside from the resident’s room, what would be her bedroom, and the bathroom. While it is small, she finds it charming; it’s clean and fairly nicely decorated, and most importantly, there’s privacy. There are some signs of life: a jean jacket slung over the back of the worn armchair, an empty mug on the coffee table, a pair of scuffed brown leather boots sitting by the doorway.

It’s a really nice place.

“Sorry for the wait,” her host says, appearing at the other end of the couch holding two mugs of coffee. He hands her one, and she holds it gingerly as he sinks onto the couch next to her. When he’s sitting, it’s hard to tell that he’s just a couple inches shorter than her. His blonde hair is messy, like he just got out of bed, but it suits him. It brushes his jawline, framing his face nicely. 

She looks away, down into her mug, pushing the thoughts of her host’s face from her mind. This meeting was for business, nothing else. _Focus, Fierro_.

“It’s no problem,” she says. “So, you’re Magnus, then?”

“Mhm,” he hums, taking a sip of his coffee and leaning forward to set the steaming mug on the table. “And you’re Sam’s sister, Alex. She mentioned you were looking for a place to stay.”

“Yup,” Alex says, popping the last syllable with a wry smile. “Apparently your rent is within my price range, and the fact that Sam gave you a good review doesn’t hurt.”

Magnus laughs at that, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear; the glint of a pair of earrings catches her eyes. “Are we talking about the same Sam? I was under the impression that I was a pain in her side. But yeah, rent’s pretty cheap here. 19th floor apartments tend to be. If there were any other 19th floor apartments, I imagine they’re pretty rare.”

“I bet,” Alex mutters, not looking forward to lugging a majority of her belongings up 19 flights of stairs. Some stuff she could manage, but she doubts she’d be able to get her mattress in the building’s small, dinky elevator. “How much is rent anyway? And is it a weekly thing, or a monthly?”

“Rent’s only about three hundred a month, which includes utilities,” Magnus says, shrugging. “It’s pretty fair for the size of the apartment. I managed to get Helgi, the landlord, to dock it too. Sorry, but four hundred was just a little pricy for a mid-grade apartment in this area.”

“Tell me about it,” Alex says, rolling her eyes. “And that’s only half, right? Does that mean he expected you to play eight hundred by yourself?”

“Yeah,” Magnus says, shaking his head. “Ridiculous right?”

“Sure is,” Alex says with a snicker. “This rent is a steal for a Boston apartment, though. I’ve been looking everywhere, and this is the best deal I’ve found. Closest I’ve come was about seven hundred a month.”

Magnus lets out a low whistle. “Yeah, apartments are pretty hard to come by, here. Can I ask why you’re searching?”

Alex tries not to make the stiffening of her posture obvious, but from the way Magnus looks away awkwardly, it seems like he caught it. “Just a sudden change in living situation,” she says, picking at a loose thread on her pink jeans. She wasn’t about to go spilling her life story to this dude, even if he did seem like a good listener. “All of my stuff, which isn’t much, is currently in storage. I’ve been sleeping on Sam’s couch, but with her getting married soon…”

“Makes sense,” Magnus says, smiling. She relaxes a little, pleased that he didn’t seem to require the full details. “Well, if that’s everything, I can help you move in and we can talk to Helgi about getting you a key.”

“Really?” she asks, trying not to look too surprised. They’d barely known each other for half an hour, and he was willing to let her move in? Not that she was complaining, or anything.

“Yeah, of course. You’re Sam’s sister, and I trust her. If she says you’d be a good fit, then I’m going to listen,” he says with such certainty and honesty it leaves her knees weak. “I don’t need a deposit or anything, but since it’s so close to the end of the month, rent’s due at the end of next week. That cool?”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” she says, unable to keep herself from smiling. _That’s really cool_. “When did you want me to move in?”

His grin widened, and she felt like she was looking at the sun. “How does now sound?”

* * *

Magnus’s pickup truck is a faded, peeling green color, the engine was loud and obnoxious, and the floor was dusted with dirt and pine needles. The seats are a little stained, ripped at some of the seams and looked as if they had been patched up, only to rip again. It only plays cassette tapes, out of which something by _The Smiths_ plays softly. There’s a silver ice scraper sitting on the floor of the passenger seat. It’s old, earthy, and so _Mangus_ that it almost hurt to look at.

She absolutely loved it.

“Spend a lot of time in the forest?” she asked, picking up a pine needle and showing it to him with her eyebrow raised. “I can’t tell.”

Magnus laughs. She watches him, watches how he laughs with his whole body, his head tipped back and his shoulders shaking, a wide smile on his face. Her heart jumps to her throat. “Yeah, I go hiking a lot. Whenever I can.”

The truck jumps as the light turns green and Magnus continues on, heading in the direction of the storage unit that contains all of Alex’s earthly possessions. “Me too,” Alex says, dropping the pine needle back onto the floor with the others. “I haven’t been hiking in a long time, though.”

“Yeah?” Magnus asks, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You should go sometime, when you get the chance.”

“Yeah, I should,” she says in a way that she’s aware sounds wistful. “Maybe when I get some time off work.”

“What do you do for work?” he asks. 

“I’m a waitress,” she mumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. “It's not the best job, but it pays the bills, I guess.”

“I get that,” Magnus says with a shrug of one of his shoulders. “My first job was bussing tables. At the time, it was a godsend of a job. Not sure I’d want to do it again. Uh, no offense or anything.” He glances at her, as if afraid he’d said something wrong.

She gives him a shrug of her own. “It’s cool, I get it. What do you do now, if not bussing tables?”

“I work in a little plant shop downtown,” Magnus says. “We do all sorts kinds of things. Landscaping, bouquets, flowers for weddings, all that stuff. But uh, I’m actually trying to get into college, so I can go to med school.”

“Wow,” Alex says, her eyes widening. She hadn’t been expecting that at all. “That’s great, how’s that going?”

Magnus shrugs a shoulder awkwardly, falling silent, and for a moment Alex was worried. Had she stumbled on a forbidden subject? Then, he spoke again. “It’s going okay, but it’s pretty hard to get into college when you never even finished high school. Plus, I’m 22, I’d be the oldest kid at my college unless I went to a community college, which is looking like my only option. Not to mention how expensive it all is…”

Alex pauses, trying to think of how to word her response. “... Still, Magnus, that’s really amazing. I bet you can do it. It’ll just take some hard work and time.”

Magnus gave her a small smile. “You think so?”

Alex nudges him with her elbow lightly , smiling. “Yeah, of course. If that’s what you really want to do, then you should do it, no matter what it takes.”

“That’s very wise of you,” Magnus says. Then, he leans forward in his seat and points at the sign displaying the name of the storage units. “Oh, it looks like we’re here.”

Their conversation is cut short after that. They crack open her unit, which is pretty tiny, and start loading her stuff into the back of his truck. It isn’t too miserable, but she assumes that’s because she has such good company. Not that she would dare say that out loud. Magnus keeps the environment light, laughing and joking around. Luckily, all of her belongings manage to fit in the back of the truck, even if it is a bit of a squeeze.

“That’s convenient,” she says, stepping back and wiping the sweat from her brow. Magnus strands next to her, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jean jacket. It’s starting to get colder out, since it’s late November, and she can see his breath when he exhales. He gives her a smile, which she returns without any thought to it.

“Let’s head home and get you all moved in,” he says, heading to the driver's side of his truck without looking back. Alex watches him go for a moment, trying to ignore the funny feeling the word _home_ gives her.

It feels suspiciously _right_. 

* * *

Actually getting all of her junk up the stairs takes a good two hours, and by the time it’s over, the sun has set and she’s drenched in warm, uncomfortable sweat with a bedroom full of unpacked boxes. Despite that, it feels so good to have, well. A home.

She collapses on the couch next to Magnus after dropping the last box on the floor of her room. “God, that took forever. What time is it?”

“Just a couple minutes after 5,” Magnus says, stretching. He ditched his jean jacket after they’d gotten back, but he still wore a faded brown flannel over a grey t-shirt. She had no idea how he managed it; she’d taken off all her upper layers aside from her black t-shirt after they’d brought up the first few boxes, and even then, she felt overheated. “You want something to eat?”

“Sure, what did you have in mind?” she asks, kicking off her sneakers and pulling them to rest by the side of the couch. Food sounded really, really good after all that work.

“How about ordering a pizza?” he asks, shrugging a shoulder. “Something really relaxed for your first night.”

“That sounds good. Do you usually cook or something?” she asks, watching as he digs around in his pocket for his phone.

“Sometimes. Friday is falafel night. I like to get chinese on Wednesdays sometimes. Usually I have soup on Sundays but pizza is a good alternative.” He grins at her, and wiggles his phone a little. “Any requests?”

“Tomato and green peppers?” 

“Sounds good to me.”

Alex listens as he orders, examining her nails patiently. When he’s finished, he tells her it’ll take about half an hour, and turns on the TV. He turns the volume down so that it’s playing in the background, and gives her his full attention.

It’s so different from her last living situation that she’s almost afraid to indulge him in conversation. Not that it matters; Magnus talks easily. He’s kind of awkward, stumbling over his words and sometimes falling too quiet, but he’s funny. He’s _really_ funny. He’s got the easy kind of humor that has Alex charmed and amused, easily falling into a comfortable conversation with him.

“--and then she tells him that she’s my _tutor_ ,” he says, rolling his eyes with a smile. “As if I hadn’t dropped out of school two years before. Not to mention that Amir knew me as Jimmy. Anyway, that’s how I found out they were due to be married.”

Alex snickers, leaning against the back of the couch. “That sounds like Sam, alright. How long ago was that?”

“Oh man, it was like, six years ago, I think?” He tilts his head back, and she can see him counting the years in his head. “I was sixteen, so yeah, about six years.”

“Wow, that’s hilarious. And to think, in just a few short months, they’ll actually be married.”

“Yeah, sometimes that’s so crazy to think about,” Magnus says, and Alex silently agrees. They were so young, she couldn’t imagine getting married at this age. He cards a hand through his hair, and it falls back around his face, tousled. “Amir asked me to be his best man, a couple weeks ago, actually. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“That’s really cool,” Alex says with a smile, resisting the urge to tug at the ends of her own hair. “I’m Sam’s maid of honor. Sister privileges, and all that.”

“Sounds like fun,” Magnus says. He hesitates, and looks as if he’s about to say something else when there’s a short, buzzing sound from their intercom, thus announcing that their pizza is here. Magnus’ face flushes, and he never does end up saying what he was going to say. The curiosity nags at the back of her mind, but she doesn’t bring it up.

They eat pizza on the couch in front of the TV, an episode of Parks and Recreation playing in the background. They had put it on with the intention of paying attention to it, but ended up talking again instead, laughing and making jokes. Soon, after a couple slices of pizza each, Magnus stuffs the leftover pizza in the fridge and Alex heads to her room, standing in the doorway, gazing at all of the boxes.

“Want some help unpacking?” Magnus asks, coming to stand next to her, peering into the space curiously, as if it’s surprising him to see the room not empty for once.

“That would be great,” Alex says with a smile, happy to have the help. She may not have a lot, but now that she actually has space to herself, she wants to make the most of it.

For the next few hours, the two spend time in her room. The first thing they do is set up some shelves, which she puts all of the pottery pieces she’s recently had the time to make. It’s embarrassing, having Magnus around for that part. Each time he takes a piece of the a box and unwraps it, he takes time examining it, his face drawn into an expression of awe that makes her cheeks flush. 

“These are amazing, Alex!” he says as he hands her the last piece of pottery slowly, almost if he’s reluctant to stop looking at it. “What’s that symbol on the bottom? I feel like I’ve seen it before.”

Alex flips over the piece he just handed her, running her fingers over the twined serpents. “You could call it my brand, I guess. It used to be my father’s symbol, or the family crest, or whatever. I’m reclaiming it as my own.” She sets the bowl in it’s place among the others. She tries not to make it too obvious that she doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Oh,” Magnus says, seeming to get the message. He pulls over another box and opens it, and they move on. Soon, they’ve folded and put away all of her clothes in her small dresser, lined her shoes carefully under her bed, and even set up all of her pottery supplies. Magnus was fascinated with the little tools, and he’d mentioned being curious when they’d carted her pottery wheel up 19 flights of stairs. 

It takes them about as much time as it had to get everything up the stairs, but once it’s done, her bed is made her everything is put away. It’s the most organized and relieved she’s felt in ages. 

“Thanks for helping me,” she says, fidgeting with her the hem of her t-shirt. She still feels sticky with sweat after all that work. 

“No problem, happy to help,” Magnus says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He rocks awkwardly on his feels for a moment. “I think I’m gonna hit the hay, though. I’ve got an early day tomorrow and I’m pretty exhausted.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow, then,” she says, feeling just as awkward. He may be a great guy to be around, but she still only met him hours ago. “Goodnight.”

“G’night,” he says, lifting a hand in a small wave as he departs, yawning. She hears his footsteps cross the apartment to the other side of the living space, where his room is located. The door to his bedroom opens and closes, and then there is only silence.

Alone for the first time that day, she sags onto her bed, putting her head in her hands, breathing slowly. It was a little overwhelming, just how busy her day had been, and how she had a home now. An honest to goodness _home_. After what felt like so long, and the years of homelessness, and jumping from shelter to shelter and couch to couch, here she was.

Wiping tears of relief from the corners of her eyes, she gathers herself and goes to take her first shower, eager to get her toiletries all set up and wash the sticky sweat from her body. She doesn’t take too long of a shower, since she also has to be up fairly early for the morning shift at the diner and she figures Magnus will have to brush his teeth before he sleeps anyway.

After she’s done, she doesn’t hesitate crawling into bed, and from sheer exhaustion alone, she’s out like a light within minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed the first chapter! if you have any questions you can head over to my [writing tumblr](https://sumarbranded.tumblr.com/) and ask away! i might do prompts at some point so, yeah!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi welcome to another unedited chapter that im impulsively posting at midnight while im dead tired!!! i didnt even read back over this when i finished it so hopefully its not crap, sorry for any errors. i love fierrochase g o d.

The next morning, she’s rudely awoken by the harsh buzzing sound of her alarm. Alex blinks blearily at it from under the covers and turns it off, glaring at the time blinking red numbers. Six in the morning was a miserable time to be awake.

She practically drags herself out of bed, stretching out her sore muscles from the previous day's’ heavy lifting. Her shoulders are stiff and tight, and she rubs them tiredly. 

Hesitantly, she opens her bedroom door and peers out into the apartment. It’s quiet, and predictably, empty. There are a few signs telling her that Magnus left: his brown leather boots were gone from their place by the door, as was his jean jacket, and the door to his bedroom was left cracked, just barely left open. She also spots something sitting on the small, circular wooden table in their kitchen that wasn’t there the night before. 

It feels awkward, leaving the bedroom and crossing the space to the table, like she hasn’t quite settled into the idea of the closest thing she’s had to a permanent home, yet. The table is kind of old and rickety, and she can practically see Magnus picking it out at a flea market; the thing probably only cost twenty bucks, it was so worn. The four metal folding chairs that sat around it, all different colors, seemed to be new, though.

Sitting on the surface of the table was a torn piece of notebook paper and a key. Squashing down the genuine smile that threatens Alex’s neutral expression, she picks up the key and turns it over in her hand before reading the note.

_Alex,_

_I forgot to give you your key last night. Pretty sure you’re gonna need it to get back in after work. Unless you know how to pick locks, in which case, that’s badass. But here’s your key to save you the trouble anyway. See you later tonight and have a good day!!_

_\- Magnus_

She scoffs at the note, unable to keep the smile away this time. There was a coffee stain on the bottom of the paper, an arrow labeled ‘oops’ pointing at it. His handwriting was messy but readable, and he made a smiley face with the dots of his exclamation points. What an absolute nerd. 

Scrawled at the bottom of his note right next to his name is a phone number. She stares at it for a moment, her eyes running over the numbers again and again. Then, she sets the note back down on the table. She’d put his number in her phone later. Right now, she really had to get ready.

It doesn’t take long for her to take a shower and get dressed, though she does kind of rush the process just because she isn’t sure how long the walk to work will take. Luckily, she manages to squeeze in a cup of coffee as well. Her outfit is fairly simple; a white blouse tucked into black jeans, and her pink sneakers. It’s essentially the same attire she’s required to wear everyday, and it’s not too awful, aside from being a bit drab. The sneakers help with that, though.

On the way out, she manages to quickly input Magnus’ phone number into her phone and shoot him a short text letting him know she’d gotten her key and saved his number. She saves his number under the name _mango_ with a fruit emoji, simply because the similarity is too hilarious to deny. 

Thankfully, the diner is only a few blocks from her place (her _home_ ; it’s still so jarring to think of the apartment like that) and she makes it there a few minutes before her shift. She takes a note of just how long it took to walk so she could plan how much time she had to get ready, or the latest she could wake up. 

By the time she’s put on the little black apron they’re required to wear and armed herself with a pen and her notepad, Magnus has still not texted her back. She stows her things in the back room and gets to work anyway, trying not to think about him in a plant shop, his hands covered in dirt and his eyes bright, at home with the plants.

The first half of her shift goes by slowly. She finds herself practically watching the clock when she isn’t busy dealing with customers that are either rude or bigoted, or both. The diner itself was pretty nice, and paid well, but she was tired of having to correct practically every patron regarding her pronouns. It was like having two jobs instead of just the one. As far as jobs went, though, it was certainly not the worst she’s ever had. 

Sure, the food was good, and it was money, but it wasn’t her dream. Not by a longshot. Her dream was to own her own pottery studio, maybe teach some pottery classes, but mostly to make and sell her own pieces. Possibly start a brand.

She’d always thought it was kind of a silly dream. Pottery was just a hobby, after all, right? But thinking about Magnus, and how he still wanted to get into medical school despite being happy with his job, well…

Maybe, just maybe, she could go after own dream as well.

* * *

Her first break comes far too late into her shift, hours after she’d started. It’s eleven now, despite the fact that she started at seven. Four hours of uninterrupted work really takes a lot out of her, and she still has six more hours to go; one of her longer days. At least she gets to take her break near the lunch rush; that was her least favorite part of the day. 

After using the restroom, Alex sequesters herself in the break room with her phone and a lunch made of some of the extra fries and chicken strips from the kitchen. She smirks as her phone blinks at her, altering her to the messages she received while she was working. 

_oh good, you saw my note! have a good time at work_

_so apparently i forgot my lunch… today is going to be a really long day. i cant wait to get home._

Blinking in surprise, she glances at the time displayed on her phone, and quickly shoots him a message, hoping that she didn’t entirely miss his lunch break. Since she received the message just minutes before her break started, she doubted he was working again.

**Where’s the plant shop located? I could bring you something from the diner if you’re still on break. I get the extras from the stuff they make for free.**

She’s prepared to sit and wait for him to answer while she eats her fries, but his answer comes surprisingly fast, as if he’d been sitting around waiting for her reply. She tries not to think about him lounging in a chair, staring at his phone, waiting for it to chime.

_you work at midgard meals right? i work at frey’s flora just two blocks away. but its okay! I think we might have some strawberries planted that are ripe_

Alex rolls her eyes, pulling her coat and pink scarf back on. She may not know Magnus well, but she wasn’t about to let him go without lunch. Besides, it meant she could finally get out of the diner for lunch for once. There was never any purpose to leave before. She worked in a _restaurant_ after all.

She reads over the text again to make sure she knows where she’s going and sweeps through the kitchen, packing away a few things for Magnus, as well as packs up her own food, ignoring the questioning glances of her coworkers. Her lunch break was an entire hour long, so she’ll have plenty of time to run out. 

The walk takes barely five minutes when she power walks. _Frey’s Flora_ is a tiny little corner shop, and it looks older than she was expecting. A tiny bell chimes as she pushes open the door. The girl behind the counter looks up from the plant she was tending to, her green eyes comically wide, as if the bell startled her.

“Oh! Welcome to Frey’s Flora, my name is Juniper, can I help you with anything?” she asks, smiling.

Alex blinks and holds up the brown paper bag, containing her and Magnus’ food. “Is Magnus here, by chance? I’m his roommate.”

“Oh, you must be Alex, then! He’s just--”

She turns to direct Alex to the back room when Magnus emerges. His hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail, and his jeans are dusted with dirt. At first he seems surprised to see Alex standing there, but his expression melts into a smile.

“Alex! I didn’t know if you were coming or not,” he says, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. Alex shrugs a shoulder, still trying to process the fact that Magnus must have mentioned her if Juniper knows who she is. “You’re a lifesaver! Come on back.”

Magnus steps aside to let her through the doorway. She heads into the back room, and occupies herself with looking around as she waits for Magnus; she can hear him whispering at Juniper and the girl’s giggles, but chooses to ignore it.

The back room of the shop is overflowing with plant life. Overall, the store is pretty small, so the back room is a bit cramped. It reminds her a bit of their apartment, with the mismatched metal folding chairs and small table, and Magnus’ jacket hanging from the coat rack. She sits at the table and pulls off her coat, unpacking her food. Magnus slips into the seat across from her just as she’s finished unpacking it all.

“You totally didn’t have to do this,” Magnus says, his eyes wide as she slides him his own helping of fries and chicken strips. He picks at the fries happily, getting to work on them as soon as they’re in front of him.

“I know that, idiot” she says with a playful smirk, looking down at her fries. “I couldn’t let you go without lunch, though, could I?”

Magnus doesn’t answer immediately, but he gives her a look that is simultaneously grateful, impressed, and amused. “Thank you, really. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. So, what is this place?” Alex asks as she lifts a fry to her lips, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of it but it’s a cute little shop. Do you get a lot of business?”

“It used to be my dad’s,” Magnus says. He looks down, and picks at his food nervously. “He uh, gave it to me when I was 17, and I’ve been running it ever since.”

“Really? That’s a pretty young age to run a business at,” Alex comments.

Magnus shrugs a shoulder. “I didn’t know him growing up. I met him when I was 16 and living on the streets. My first job was bussing tables, and that helped me a little, but this helped way more. I used to sleep here, actually, for a while... He doesn’t live in town so he gave me the business to run, I guess. I’m not really sure, but I’m forever grateful.”

Alex blinks in surprise. Out of all the explanations she was expecting, that was certainly not one of them. A heavy silence falls over them as she thinks of what to say. 

She’s always been a private person, and despite liking Magnus based on what she’s learned of him so far, they’d barely been roommates for less than 24 hours. She wasn’t about to tell him every aspect of her past, but maybe, if she could relate to him in some way…

“I was homeless for a while too,” she said finally, breaking the brief silence. She looks at the table, drawing circles on the surface with her finger, avoiding eye contact. “I know what that can be like, but it seems like you got a really good deal. You’ve got a really nice store.” 

When she finally looks up, Magnus is smiling at her. He isn’t tearful, but his eyes are brimmed with emotion. She rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!” 

“I know,” she says. She reaches into the bag she brought and pulls out the piece of cake she snagged from the kitchen, back at the diner, and slides it across the table. “Shut up anyway.”

He smiles, and pulls it closer, silent.

* * *

The rest of her day goes smoothly after that, and even though her shift is horrendously long, she manages to scrape by just fine. Just a bit after five, she’s finally pushing the door open to the apartment and kicking off her shoes.

She can tell Magnus is home because his boots are by the door as well, but he’s not in the main living area. The door to his bedroom is cracked slightly, as it had been when she left that morning, and she can hear soft music coming from inside. Curious, she sets down her things (more food she got from work, mainly desserts) and wanders over.

“Magnus?” she calls softly, carefully pushing open the door. It swings open slowly, revealing his room. The first thing she sees is Magnus, stretched out on top of the plaid sheets on his bed, fast asleep. Rolling her eyes at her passed out roommate (that certainly explained why he wasn’t responding to her texts), she glances around the rest of his room, unable to quell her curiosity. 

His room looks almost exactly like she expected, and yet not at all. She counts at least three lava lamps, all different colors. The walls are plastered with posters of bands she doesn’t recognize. On the windowsill just above his bed sits a line of plants, the branches of which fall over the edge and brush the headboard. There are books scattered everywhere, and she even spies one sitting in the basket of laundry by his dresser. An acoustic guitar is propped up by his bed. A camera sits on top of the dresser, next to his keys and a water bottle.

She barely has time to process it all before she hears a soft “Alex?” come from the direction of his bed, barely audible over the soft music emitting from his laptop, which sits open to Spotify on his desk. Embarrassed at being caught looking around, her face flushes.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead,” she says, leaning on the doorframe as he blinks the sleep from his eyes and sits up. “Have a nice nap?”

“Mhm,” he hums, yawning and stretching. “When did you get home?”

“Just now. I brought more desserts from the diner. Cheesecake, this time.”

That seems to wake him up. “Really? That sounds good. I was thinking about making some soup for dinner since we had pizza last night, sound cool?”

“Yeah, sure,” Alex says, shrugging a shoulder. She’s never been particularly picky when it comes to food. After all, there was a time when she was digging through dumpsters to find a meal, so yeah, soup sounded great. “I can help you make it.”

“Awesome. Let’s get started then.”

She follows him to their small kitchen. Cooking was never her forte, so she lets him lead, since he seems to know what he’s doing. Mostly, he has her chopping vegetables. With the music from his bedroom still playing in the background, and the small conversation he makes, it’s pretty relaxing. Once everything is added and it just needs to simmer, Magnus jumps up on the counter, swinging his legs as they wait.

“How was work?” he asks.

“It was okay,” she says, leaning against the counter next to him. “Today was one of my longer days, which suck, but it means more money so it’s okay. And there were a few terrible and bigoted customers but what’s new? I should really get a pin with my pronouns on it...”

Magnus frowns. “Can’t they be kicked out for that?”

Alex shrugs. “I guess, but it’s easier to deal with it than complain every time… I’m fine with correcting them, for now. Fewer tips is not a big deal compared to no paycheck.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Magnus says, running a hand through his hair. “You just shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

Alex ignores the way her heart flutters at his defensiveness. “Thanks, but I can deal with it. I’m an adult, I can handle it. Anyway, what about you? How’d the rest of your day go?”

He smiles. “It went great! Not too busy of a day, so it was nice. We aren’t usually too busy during the winter, since most of our jobs are landscaping gigs and nobody really wants them when it's snowing.”

Alex hums in acknowledgement; that made sense. She goes to ask what sort of stuff they did, if not landscaping, when the timer for the soup goes off. Magnus hops off the counter and turns the temperature down, thus ending their conversation. She helps him serve it, and the two sit down at the table.

The soup turns out to be really good, and Magnus’ cheeks redden when she tells him so. He insists it’s because he had help, but Alex disagrees; he was clearly a good cook, and boy did Alex luck out in the roommate department.

The rest of the evening is fairly relaxed; they watch a movie (something from the 80s, Alex had never seen it before but Magnus claimed to have seen it many times) and eat cheesecake. Magnus goes to shower once it’s over, so she bids him goodnight and retires to her room. 

Exhausted from her long shift at work, it doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

* * *

Luckily, the next day’s shift at the diner goes smoothly, and is fairly short; she ends up only working from seven to noon. After work, instead of heading home like she typically would, she decides to drop by Sam’s and visit her, since she hadn’t seen her sister in at least a week and she does try to keep in contact, even if they weren’t particularly close. The cab ride is thankfully short, and just twenty minutes after leaving work, Alex is knocking on Sam’s apartment door.

Sam answers after a moment, a soft smile taking over her features as she sees who has come to visit her. “Alex! Come on in.”

Alex steps into the apartment and glances around. It looks the same as when she had left it, though there are binders full of wedding planning things spread out on the coffee table. The wedding wasn’t set until April, and it’s only November, but Alex is sure Sam must be stressing about it.

“I brought some of those cookies from the diner that you like,” Alex said, holding up a plastic bag; that seemed to be her thing, lately. “But I need the bag, since I snagged some fries and cake for Magnus too.”

“How’s that going?” Sam asked, giving Alex a look that she doesn’t quite understand. It makes her seem like she knows something Alex doesn’t. It’s infuriating. 

“How is what going?” Alex asks innocently, following Sam as she heads to the kitchen. The look that Sam gives her now is much more scathing, as if saying ‘you know what’.

“The new apartment, of course,” she says, opening the bag and pulling out the cookies. After setting them on the counter, she gets to work on tea. Alex sits at the small, two person table that is pushed up against the wall on the other side of the kitchen.

“Surprisingly good,” Alex says, resting her chin in her hand. “Magnus seems like a really good guy. He’s really respectful of my pronouns and everything, which I’m not too used to from strangers, and he makes _amazing_ soup.”

Sam is quiet for a moment, and she looks contemplative, as if she’s wondering if she should say something. In the end, she settles on a soft “That’s good”, leaving Alex to wonder what she was going to say in the first place.

“Magnus is a really good guy,” Sam says after another beat of silence. She sits across from Alex, sliding a pink mug across the table for her. Alex cups it in her hands. “Have I ever told you that he was the first friend I really had?”

Alex blinks in surprise. “No… you didn’t tell me that.”

Sam hums, smiling. “He was. We met when we were sixteen, by random chance. I saved his life, and the rest was, as they say, history.”

“Wow,” Alex breathes, leaning back in her seat. “I had no idea. What happened?”

“That’s not my story to tell,” Sam says, her eyes lighting up. She takes a sip of her tea. “I think he will tell you about it, when he’s ready.”

Alex doesn’t respond immediately, drumming her fingers on her mug in thought. That made sense, and she wasn’t going to push it, but she’s always had an issue with not knowing things. It drives her nuts, not being in the loop.

Before Alex has a chance to say something else, Sam speaks up again. “But, things are going well, then? How are you settling in?”

“Things are going really well, yeah. I’ve settled in pretty good, but it’s still so… new? I mean I guess that’s normal, this is barely my second day actually living there, it’s just so… different,” she says, shrugging a shoulder.

“Different? How so?”

“Just more… positive, I guess? It’s already the best living environment I’ve literally ever had.” 

Sam beams at her. “That’s fantastic! I knew it would be a good fit for you.”

Alex rolls her eyes with a smile. “Yeah, yeah. But enough about me. How’s the wedding planning going?”

That’s enough to get Sam rambling, and Alex sits back with her tea, enjoying the time she has with her sister. They may only be half sisters, but as far as Alex is concerned, Sam’s the only family that matters.

* * *

“Hey Magnus, I brought fries and cake!” Alex calls as she unlocks the apartment. She’d spent only an hour at Sam’s, but it was an hour well needed. It was nearing two in the afternoon now, and Alex was glad to be home at what she considered to be an early time.

She turns to locate her roommate, wondering if he’s sleeping again, and stops short. There are two individuals she doesn’t recognize sitting on their couch, holding mugs of tea. The shorter man is clothed in the nicest suit she’s ever seen, and is twisted around looking at her. The tall individual with spiky, pale hair dressed in all black apart from a striped scarf is turned away, as if he didn’t hear her come in. The first individual nudges him and makes several motions with his hands that Alex doesn’t understand, but recognizes as ASL. Both of them face her now, smiling.

“Uh,” she says.

“Hey there! You must be Alex. I’m Blitz, and this is Hearth,” the shorter man, Blitz, says. “We were just visiting Magnus since it’s been a while, and he told us he got a new roommate. He had to step out for a moment, though.”

“Oh,” Alex says, hesitantly kicking off her shoes by the door and placing the bag of leftovers on the kitchen counter. She wanders over and sits in the empty armchair, folding her hands in her lap. “It’s nice to meet you both. How do you know Magnus?”

“We were sort of a group when we were all living on the streets,” Blitz says, glancing at Hearth. Hearth signs something, but it gets lost in translation for Alex. Blitz seems to catch that, and translates for her. “Hearth’s saying that we were pretty much his parents. That’s what they called us on the streets, anyway.”

“Looks like I’m going to have to learn sign language,” Alex says, the corners of her mouth quirking up in a smirk. She crosses her arms. “It’s nice to hear that Magnus had support while he was homeless. I wish I could say the same for myself.”

“You were a street kid?” Blitz asks, his eyebrows raising in surprise. Hearth makes a similar expression.

“Magnus didn’t tell you?” she asks, simultaneously surprised and touched; if these guys were his street family, she thought he might have told them she was from the street as well. It was… refreshing, having someone respect her privacy, even if she wasn’t actively keeping it to herself.

Blitz shakes his head. “Nope, he didn’t. But the kid… he’s always been the generous sort. He’d probably give you his last dime if you asked.”

“Somehow I don’t doubt that,” Alex said. That was something she really appreciated about Magnus; he was just a genuinely nice person. To people who deserved it, that is.She reminded him a lot of Robin Hood, in that sense.

“Well, welcome to the gang, Alex,” Blitz said, his eyes sparkling with warmth. Hearth signs something once again, and Blitz goes to translate or respond, Alex isn’t sure which, when the door to the apartment opens once more and Magnus steps through, a bag in one hand.

“Oh, Alex! You’re home,” he says, smiling; Alex wasn’t sure she’d recognize Magnus without the relaxed smile that he always wore. “I see you’ve met Blitz and Hearth.”

“Sure have,” she says, leaning back in her seat. “I didn’t know we were having guests. I brought you some fries and cake from the diner.”

Magus glances at the bag on the counter, and Alex must be imagining things, but she thinks she sees his cheeks reddening just the slightest bit. “Thanks! I got some of those mints you said you like while I was out.”

“What did you get?” Alex asked curiously. She wondered what was so important that required leaving his friends here while he left. 

“Huh? Oh, uh, just some stuff,” he said shrugging a shoulder. “I’m just gonna…” He pulls the box of mints from the bag in his hand and sets them on the counter before shuffling awkwardly to his room and tossing the bag inside. She can hear it land on his bed with a soft thump.

Alex frowns. Clearly whatever it was, it was important, but not worth mentioning. Either that, or he was keeping a secret. She understands having secrets, of course, but not knowing something… the curiosity would eat her alive. Her leg bounces uncomfortably as she tries to quell the need to know what he had picked up. 

“Thanks for the mints,” she says. Magnus sinks down onto the couch next to Hearth and smiles.

“No problem,” he says. Then, he turns to say something to Blitz. Alex’s leg bounces, and Hearth gives her a look. She looks back, and he gives her a smile and a small nod. It’s casual enough that it could be passed off as friendly acknowledgement, but his eyes sparkle with something else, something warm and reassuring. He seems to be trying to comfort her, despite their language barrier.

Stilling her leg, she smiles back lightly. Magnus would tell her what it was when was ready. In the meantime, she’d relax, and breathe. 

She had a home, and some new friends, it seemed like. And that was enough for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im moving on the 6th, so i dont know when my next update will be! i just wanted to update before i had to move. the story will start to pick up soon, i promise. if you are willing and able, please leave a kudos or comment, i find them highly motivating! thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed! and dont forget that you can hit me up at my [writing tumblr](https://sumarbranded.tumblr.com/) any time!

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed the first chapter! if you have any questions you can head over to my [writing tumblr](https://sumarbranded.tumblr.com/) and ask away! i might do prompts at some point so, yeah!


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